Bad Little Dog
by snheetah
Summary: Based on "Anne with an E" during the episode "But What Is So Headstrong as Youth?" What if Gilbert Blythe hadn't been there during Anne's confrontation with Billy to stop him?


**Disclaimer: I do not own Anne with an E.**

 **The setting of this little fanfiction takes place during the episode "But What Is So Headstrong as Youth?" in the forest scene.**

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The books falling upon the dead leaves of the ground fell upon deaf ears as Anne Shirley-Cuthbert found herself next to a towering shadow upon her. Why had she said such words to the girls at school? Was she not aware that those words would spread between each of the girls and probably throughout the whole school and to Mr. Phillips himself? Well, Anne's words had certainly reached towards the ears of Billy and he had her cornered within the forest.

Anne didn't know what to do and the fact that he was calling her a 'bad little dog' bought all sorts of horrible memories into her mind. She felt as if she was a malicious being; someone that others saw as the dirt under their shoe only to annoyingly scrape off.

"You're a bad little dog," those words that Billy had just spoken made their way back into her ears again.

Anne was completely petrified to even look up at him. Her eyes were clouded by the memories of her past, the mistreatment that she had suffered through during her stay with the previous family where she was forced to care for the many children. She had been treated so maliciously with the Hammonds that she even feared Billy would do the same to her.

 _Stay strong Anne, stay strong_ she thought to herself, trying her hardest to discipline her feelings that were about to burst any second. She could feel a tingling sensation between the tips of her fingers as if her whole body was about to go numb but she didn't want to show her fear and her weakness towards an older classmate and someone who was being nothing but a bully to her.

"A…bad…little…dog," Billy said as he poked her on the shoulder with every word that left his mouth.

Taking a deep breath, it was then that Anne's light blue eyes looked up at him. Her jaw clenched and she seemed to get back that feeling back into her fingers. Was she angry at his gesture? Indeed she was, but she just had to control her temper. Even she knew that if she raised a fist towards him, no matter how tempting it was, she was not going to be successful.

"I said that I was sorry," Anne said, trying to be as calm as she could, even though apologizing for her words was something that could not turn back the time and correct what she had done, "but that should not give you the motivation to 'teach me a lesson,'" she said. "I was probably not thinking before I spoke."

"You're right about that," the older man spitefully said as he continued to tower over her, not even touched a little by her apology, "I take it all dumb orphans are like that. They just can't think before they speak, hmm? That should have been something your mommy and daddy should've taught you, but I guess it was too late."

At the mention of her poor parents, Anne froze. She averted her gaze from Billy and over to the ground where she noticed the spot to where her baskets and books had fallen. Anne did not know whom her parents were for they died when she was just a baby but that didn't give Billy the right to even speak like that about her parents.

"How dare you?" Anne softly said as she began to shake her head at him, her expression as hard as a stone but yet, hurt lingered within her eyes. "There are some who aren't fortunate enough to meet parents, but that doesn't give you the prerogative to talk like that."

No, she was not going to break herself in front of this…bully before her. Even though Anne did not know her parents, they were the ones that had bought her into this world after they had died and there wasn't a passing day or night where she thanked them for that and for having her life be better than it used to be.

"Are you telling me how I should speak?" Billy asked her, "especially to the likes of a dumb orphan like you?"

"I could care less how you converse with me or about me," Anne said as she took a deep breath and looked at him right in the eye, "but when you bring my parents into the conversation, you're also dealing with me."

"You don't even know them," he prodded her on, "and neither do they know you.

"Oh really?" she asked, "I don't even remember seeing you there," she said as she than reached down to the ground and took a hold of her basket and her books. "I believe this conversation of ours is over and if you ever decide to have another conversation with me, at least do it like a decent human being."

Giving Billy one last look, she began to slowly walk away from him trying not to show some courage on the outside, but inside she was breaking. She wanted to run and hide somewhere into the woods but school was a priority and she just couldn't skip it. She couldn't do that to Marilla nor Matthew who had tried to enroll her.

She slowly turned her head to make sure that Billy wasn't following her and to her relief, he had disappeared. Anne didn't know where but she hoped that he wouldn't pop out of nowhere.

"Are you alright Miss?" a voice suddenly came out of nowhere as Anne gasped and turned her head to look over at the source of the voice.

Right before her stood a young boy that she had never seen before but he didn't look intimidating as Billy did. Anne clutched tightly onto the leather strap of her books and gently swallowed. Who was he and what did he want with her? It seemed like he had been listening in on the conversation that had occurred between her and Billy.

"I…I have to get to school…" she said as she quickly hurried away from him.

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 **The End**


End file.
